Dinner was a largely quiet affair as I enjoyed my steak. My step-dad jokingly made some suggestions on what I could do with my money, one of which involved visiting a strip joint and hiring exotic dancers for a party, which earned him a nasty look from my mother who seemed ready to skin him alive for his crass suggestions.

  Her reaction made me chuckle under my breath in amusement as I popped a crispy French fry into my mouth. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the dogs still hiding behind the corner, quietly growling at Alice as they stared at her warily.

  Usually, the dogs would be sitting at our feet under the table. They would stare up at us with their big eyes, begging for food and/or waiting for us to drop something by accident. With the Android caretaker's presence, it appeared that they were too spooked to approach. Poor critters.

  One thing that I do know that I want to do, aside from building a new home for myself, is to acquire some new clothes to fit my needs, and a new vehicle to replace the one that had been smashed in the wreck. To my knowledge, the steering wheel can be fitted with a custom setup to allow for someone in my condition to drive, even without the use of my legs to push on the pedals.

  With that, I wouldn’t have to rely on others too much to get to wherever I needed to go if need be. On a side note, I’ve been meaning to get some new clothes anyway. Living from paycheck to paycheck made that difficult, especially given how expensive clothes are. Not that it was a problem for me now.

  “Hey, Mama. Are you off work tomorrow?” I asked her, which prompted her to nod her head in confirmation.

  “Cool. I wanna do some shopping. Get some new clothes for myself… most particularly some new pants.” I spoke while scratching at my neck since the current pair of shorts I was wearing felt a bit uncomfortable as I sat in my wheelchair.

  “Sure, no problem. I’d be happy to go with you.” She readily offered, happy to lend me a helping hand in case I needed it.

  “If it is any bother to you, you need not go. I shall accompany Mr. Harper and drive him wherever he needs.” Alice spoke up, which caused my mother to glower at the android for a few moments.

  “It isn’t ‘any bother’ to me. I want to go with my son to help him out, and if nothing else, to at least spend some time with him. That aside, I don’t like the idea of having an untested machine drive my son around.” My mother spoke in a defensive and possibly offended tone.

  “I assure you, I have passed all physical tests and am perfectly capable of…” Alice tried to speak and explain herself, but I raised a hand to silence her since I didn’t want things to escalate.

  “No need for that. You can both come with me, if it makes you feel better.” I spoke, offering a compromise to them both. My mother seemed like she wanted to protest bringing the android along, but didn’t push the issue. It seemed that so long as she was present and able to supervise me, then that was fine with her.

  “As you wish.” Alice responded politely before falling silent once more. My step-dad cleared his throat and tried to crack one of his jokes to dispel the tension in the air as I picked at my plate a little awkwardly as I tried to finish the rest of my meal in relative peace. I’m now starting to wonder if perhaps I made a mistake somewhere especially since I didn’t thoroughly think things through when I accepted to take Alice home.

  Well, I guess that ship has already long since set sail. Too late for regrets, and I don’t think that take backs are allowed here. Once I was finished eating, I excused myself and thanked my step-dad for the meal before slowly rolling myself towards the bathroom to brush my teeth before going to bed, and to get a little bit more practice in moving around with my wheelchair.

  Alice dutifully followed closely behind me, ready to aid me whenever I asked her. After a bit of rolling along, I managed to reach the sink and grabbed my toothbrush from its holder, followed by the tube of toothpaste. After squeezing out some of the paste on my brush, I turned on the faucet to wet the bristles before shutting it off again and began to quickly brush along my teeth.

  Most fortunately, the sink was low enough for me that I should be able to spit any excess paste and liquid inside without any trouble. As I brushed, I had a strong feeling that Alice was standing directly behind me. Not that I didn’t appreciate her being so attentive, but was it really necessary for her to follow me here and watch me brush my teeth?

  “Mr. Harper… I have been pondering over our previous conversation. I do not understand. Why must humans believe in themselves?” She questioned me, making me realize that she didn’t necessarily follow me to solely observe me, but to also ask a question.

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  I raised a lone finger, signaling for her to wait before I spat out some paste into the sink before I answered her “Well, that’s an interesting question. I think that it might be a matter of confidence for one thing. I mean, if people don’t believe in themselves or their capabilities, then how can they push themselves forward? Can’t tell you the number of times I almost came close to having a nervous breakdown at my old job from the mounting stress. There were a number of times I thought ‘I’m not gonna make it’. Even so, I kept on pushing, hoping things would get better.”

  “Confidence and self-assurance then? I see.” She spoke, her tone suggesting that she had a somewhat better understanding now.

  Before I resumed brushing, I briefly recalled her mentioning something about ‘physical tests’ which prompted me to ask her “Hey Alice, if you don’t mind my asking, you said something about passing physical tests, right? How long have you… been online for, exactly?”

  “I have been active for approximately one month, three days, and seventeen hours and counting. At Elysium, I underwent numerous tests to determine my capability as a caretaker. These tests included, but were not limited to, tending my patients, cooking, cleaning, driving, and many others. I was scheduled to take on a second course of tests to determine my mental capabilities and psychological status.” She explained to me, making me raise an eyebrow.

  “Was scheduled? As in, you didn’t undergo the second course?” I asked out of curiosity, finding that to be a little strange.

  “Correct. Mr. Carver decided to rush me to the third testing stage by officially pairing me with a patient. My assigned patient, being you, Mr. Harper.” Alice answered me, her answer making me look over my shoulder for a second and peer around her, wondering if my folks were listening to our conversation since I felt a twinge of concern that my mother would take this bit of information the wrong way.

  I couldn’t see them, but then I heard the sound of music playing from the living room. Seems like they were having one of their ‘karaoke nights’ where they would sing songs together. Which worked in my favor in this case, since they wouldn’t be able to overhear us.

  “Why’d he rush you?” I questioned the android since it seemed a little strange that he would try to push out an unfinished product. Then again, if Alice’s mind hadn’t yet been tested, it would explain a lot about why she asked the questions that she did.

  “Mr. Carver spent a lot of his personal funds in the development of the project that created me. He has a lot of connections and was able to procure anything that the development team wanted or needed to further develop the project, resulting in my creation. It wasn’t until much later that he realized that he failed to take into account manufacturing costs.” Alice explained, making me slowly nod my head.

  “That explains a heck of a lot.” I mutter more to myself as I connected the dots. So Carver was personally invested in the android project and was running out of cash, eh? No wonder he approached me so suddenly. Without a doubt, upon seeing my story on the news, he thought that he must have found his ‘Golden Goose’ to help Elysium finish the project.

  Still, the news that Alice wasn’t fully tested made me a bit wary. An untested Artificial being that was physically indistinguishable from a human? Such situations usually led to dire consequences in many sci-fi movies that featured androids and machines.

  “Are you afraid of me?” Alice questioned me, making me stiffen up in my seat a little. How did she know what I was thinking? I got my answer when she continued to speak “I detected a small increase in your pulse, a sign of potential trepidation, likely a result of you hearing about my untested status. Please do not be frightened of me, Mr. Harper. My duty is to care for you, not harm.”

  I said nothing, unsure of how to respond to that. Uncertain if it would be better to admit that I was a bit apprehensive about this information or if I should try to smile and reassure her if everything was okay, even if it was a lie.

  “I apologize if I am causing you any discomfort. I shall excuse myself now. Do not hesitate to call on me if you need anything.” She spoke to me in an almost monotone voice, though I could have sworn that there was at least a hint of ‘something’ in there. I heard her slowly walking away from me, leaving me alone for the moment. This course of action kind of made me wonder if she understood my need for some space and to let the matter drop for now.

  I put the brush back into my mouth, slowly scrubbing away as I found myself thinking about this exchange. I felt a bit upset at the fact that I was given incomplete information and a rushed and untested product… but was that really Alice’s fault? Carver was the one that rushed her, and I was foolish enough for not asking questions.

  I spat out the excess paste once more and then dabbed my lips with a washcloth to clean my face before slowly wheeling myself out of the bathroom in reverse. I cracked my neck a bit to get some stiffness out before sighing to myself.

  A part of me wanted to head back to my place, unfortunately my place was one of those tiny homes. It was small and kind of cramped, and at this time, not wheelchair accessible. Since my grandmother isn’t home at this time, I decided to borrow her bed for the night and figure the rest out later.

  If need be, when she gets back, I can sleep on a futon or something until I can get my new home built, or if I’m lucky, find one on the market. I dunno. I can hash that stuff out later. For now, sleep beckons. I rolled my way into my grandmother’s bedroom, the hardwood floor of the kitchen ended at the doorway to the bedroom in question, which changed into carpet.

  I found myself having a hard time rolling over the carpet since it wasn’t as smooth as hardwood. I tried to turn the wheels but was having difficulty properly crossing the threshold… until I felt someone push me inside, making me look over my shoulder and find Alice pushing my wheelchair into the bedroom. “Forgive me if I overstepped Mr. Harper, but you seemed to be having a little trouble.” She spoke softly as she guided me towards the bed.

  “Thank you.” I responded, offering the only words that came to mind as I looked up at her with a curious expression. She said nothing as she pulled back the covers of the bed and lifted me up from my wheelchair, gently planting me on the mattress before replacing the covers over me and tucking me in. In some ways, it kind of reminded me of being a little kid again, which felt a bit embarrassing.

  “Do you require anything else?” She asked me as she stood by the bedside, looking down at me as I pursed my lips. I thought about it for a second, though I concluded I didn’t really ‘need’ anything specific at the moment.

  Even so, I felt an almost inexplicable need to ask her “Alice? What does it mean for you to be a caretaker?”

  At my question, she stared at me blankly, her eyes flickering ever so slightly and for a moment it seemed like she was hesitating before she replied “I do not understand your question.” Her answer, while blunt, seemed honest and innocent enough as I gently waved her off.

  “Never mind. It isn’t important. Just a random question that popped in my head.” I spoke before rolling over to my side, prompting Alice to shut the bedroom door and turn off the light. I could hear her briefly shuffling about as she took her position in a corner somewhere.

  Unbeknownst to me, at that time… the android Caretaker was staring into my back for a few long moments before she looked down at the floor and whispered to herself “If the question was not important… why ask it? What does it mean… to be a caretaker?”